Areca quid chewing is an almost universal indulgence in many regions of southeastern Asia, and in small and large islands adjacent to the coast, and in the Southwest Pacific area.
The preparation of the areca quid is fairly uniform in this part of the world, with variations existing only in the compositions of areca food additives. Lime is the most important component of areca food additive. The other constituent may have been selected from the group consisting of gambit, tobacco, coffee, cocoa, Chinese herbs, and modifier such as sweetener, perfume, preserver, stabilizer, color pigment and fillers. The areca food additive is usually in the form of paste.
The preparation of traditional areca quid has been done in several ways.
1. Chewing is practiced by first inserting a piece of the areca seed pulp in the mouth. This is masticated for a few seconds, followed by with the betel leaf or betel fruit, with a generous helping of lime, being taken; a large wad then results, in which a long-continued indulgence of the tissues in the oral cavity become stained bright red. The mixture induces intense salivation. The areca seed is highly astringent. This unpleasant effect, however, is neutralized by the lime in expectation. PA1 2. Another areca quid is that in which a fresh areca is cracked up at one side of it and a small amount of areca food additive is pasted. A chop of betel fruit or betel stem is added onto it. PA1 3. Still areca quid is first to spread a small amount of areca food additive on a piece of betel leaf. A piece of areca is wrapped inside the leaf with the areca food additive face inside. PA1 4. The still areca quid is prepared by using a piece of areca seed in stead of the areca in method 3. PA1 5. The still areca quid is conducted in the same way as methods 1 and 2 but without betel fruit or betel stem. PA1 1. The lime in areca food additive makes the pH value of higher than 12.5, which would corrode the oral mucosa of chewer. The part corroded by lime would tan when the release of polyphenolic compounds existed from the crude drug during chewing and could not completely react with lime at the moment of release. Leathering or induce oral cancer would consequently occur; PA1 2. The bad odor of lime is uncomfortable; PA1 3. The teeth of the areca quid chewer are damaged by the high alkaline lime, which cannot stand the heat, acidity and rapid change of temperature. The foods belong to these conditions which are not enjoyable for areca quid chewer; PA1 4. The spitting of the bright red chewing juice is one of the environmental pollution in society; PA1 5. Swallowing a great amount of lime reduces the acidity of stomach and increases the chance of cancer occurring. PA1 1. Accordingly, it is therefore a general object of the invention to provide a novel composition of areca food additive which dose not contain lime; PA1 2. It is an object of the present invention to provide a new method of preparing areca food additive which would use neutral calcium salt to react with the polyphenolic compounds contained in crude drugs--instead of reacting with a high alkaline lime which causes many diseases to the areca quid chewer; PA1 3. Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel composition of areca food additive comprising crude drug, compound containing at least one of the functional group selected from the group consisting of --NH2,.dbd.NH,.tbd.N,--NH--,--CONH--,--HCO--, --CO--,--COOR--,--S--, and their salts; especially, protein, derivatives of protein and food containing protein; and modifier selected from the group of sweetener, perfume, preserver, stabilizer, color pigment, Chinese herbs and fillers; PA1 4. A still more specific object of the present invention is to provide a novel areca quid which uses eatable neutral calcium salts of organic acids. Reacting with the polyphenolic compounds of crude drugs, instead of high alkaline lime, is the goal; PA1 5. Yet another object of the present invention is to accordingly provide a novel method for preparation of areca quid which uses food contain functional group selected from the group consisting of NH.sub.2,.dbd.NH,.tbd.N, --NH--,--CONH--,--HCO--,--CO--,--COOR--,--S--, and their salts; especially, protein, derivatives of protein and food containing protein; this would be in order to react with the polyphenolic compounds of crude drugs instead of high alkaline lime; PA1 6. Still another object of the present invention is to provide novel foods, such as beverages, biscuits, candy, cake, chewing gum, and throat lozenges all of which would contain the areca or the component of areca; PA1 7. A general object of this invention is to provide areca quid which are eatable and will improve the environmental pollution caused by the spitting of a bright red juice.
Davis reported of the relationship existing between areca quid chewing and the higher incidence of oral cancer [J.A.M.A., 64: 711-718, 1915; J. Tropical Med., 27: 274-278, 1924]. The active agent is lime of the chew.
The so-called "crude drugs", including areca, areca seed, gambir, betel leaf, betel fruit and betel stem contain a large quantity of polyphenolic compounds which are the taste of astringent and cause harm to the tissue of oral mucosa; forming a leather like compound and being associated with oral and esophageal cancer and other diseases [Bhide et al.,1984; Publication No.57; IARC,1984, pp 851857; Brunneman et al, 1985 J. Agric, Food chem. 1985,vol. 33, 1178-1181]. The efficiency of lime is very poor even though people use lime to improve the effects of polyphenolic compounds. The high alkaline property of lime, in addition to that, also produces many bad results, such as:
Many methods proposed for improving the bad effects of areca food additive currently exist, such as those being disclosed in the patent gazette No. 7010610 and No. 7112377 of Taiwan R.O.C. Those methods did not use lime and gambir. The problems caused by the polyphenolic compounds still remain, although the problem of the bright red juice could be improved. It has been noted that a series of eatable neutral calcium salts; and compounds containing at least one of the following functional groups selected from the group consisting of --NH2,.dbd.NH,.tbd.N,--NH--,--CONH--, --HCO--,--CO--,--COOR--,--S--, and their salts; especially, protein, derivatives of protein and food containing protein; show excellent properties in comparison with lime. Accordingly, in accordance with the present invention it has been realized that the astringent, tastes and harms caused by the polyphenolic compounds of areca quid could be improved through the use of such materials in a manner that the disease of quid chewer could be decreased and the problem of environmental pollution could be improved completely.